Fate-Elide's Journey
by Faeriea
Summary: Elide struggles to choose between keeping her promise to Kaltain and returning home. When a mysterious man saves her from a dark creature in Oakwald forest, it seems fate makes the decision for her. -Elide's Journey after queen of shadows-


Elide had gotten better at this, surviving that is, when Manon Blackbeak had left her in the middle of this miserable forest with the advice to head north, Elide had felt hopeless for a long time;but after two long weeks or walking and scavenging, Elide felt somewhat confident in her ability to catch squirrels and rabbits.

She'd tried many different methods, her first and biggest fail was trying to catch them by hand, next she'd tried using her knifes as javelins and had almost taken her own eye out in the process and finally, after three days without any notably efficient substance she'd taken to setting traps.

She had never created a trap before nor had she ever hunted or slaughtered an animal but surviving on nothing but nuts, berries and other plants she recognised wouldn't kill her had brought out a side of her she hadn't known existed.

She used flexible branches to weave a basket, a stick to hold the basket up and a few nuts and berries as bait, though it certainly wasn't the most efficient trap, 5 times out of ten it worked.

After two days elide had caught a squirrel, her heart had pounded with remorse when her blade ran across the creature's neck but she'd reminded herself of all the cruelty she had witnessed, had wiped her tears and as graciously as she could, skinned and prepared the animal.

She'd almost sobbed when she finished eating, her belly was warm and full and for the first time since starting her trek home, Elide had felt like maybe everything wasn't so bad after all.

She wished now she'd have taken more time making the trap, as it had fallen apart after a few uses and she had to make another one.

Staring at her newly weaved basket she smiled and went about assembling the trap, most of her supply of rabbit had turned sour two days ago and she was desperate to eat something filling, when she finished she sighed and lifted her head towards the tree tops, she could barely make out the nights sky through the thick leaves and branches, she was thankful for the coverage of course, the last thing she wanted was to be soaked to the bone whenever it rained.

Once she was certain her trap was set properly, Elide walked back to her camp, her 'camp' being nothing more than a small patch of land she thought looked the most comfortable compared to the rest of the twig littered ground, her pack rested under a tree and elide chastised herself for leaving it alone for such a long period of time, wyrd help her if she lost it.

Though she couldn't determine exactly how far she'd traveled, she knew it wasn't far, her leg was still injured, worsened by the cold nights and achingly empty stomach she spent much of her time sleeping or resting, she hadn't even made it to the gap yet.

She settled herself against a large oak tree and hugged her cloak tighter, it seemed the nights only got colder as the days past and Elides sickly form offered no aid against the freezing winds, she thought about Manon's words for the tenth time that day _"Aelin ashryver galathynius shattered his glass castle"_

She thought often about Manon's parting words, she thought about Manon a lot as a whole , but their last conversation tormented her the most, plaguing her dreams and nightmares, Elide still couldn't believe it, Aelin was alive. _Her queen was alive._

Aedion. Ren. Aelin. _All of them were alive._

She'd never been particularly close with any of them but they were still apart of her , still apart of the past she so often tried to forget and Elide's heart swelled with hope, for a better future and many, many more things.

Of course they were not the only things Elide thought about, Kaltains death and the promise she'd made to find Celaena Sardothian weighed down on her heavily, she was torn about what to do.

Manon had seemed sure she should go home, _"I'd head north, and stick to the forest. Stay out of the mountains. Keep going until you hit Terrasen"_ , Elide knew Manon had more sense than her, she was far older and far wiser after all but that did not stop the wondrous curiosity from haunting Elide's every waking moment.

After being shackled for so long Elide wanted to do something, _anything._

She wanted to run and dance and scream at the top of her lungs, she wanted to escape into the world and experience a thousand lifetimes all in one night.

She tried to stop herself from fantasising about quests and adventures, tried to stop the dreams about the mysterious woman she'd been instructed to find, the want to find this Celaena Sardothien was almost as strong as her want to go home.

Breathing deeply she shook the thoughts from her head, there would be time to think about her next move, right now all she wanted to do was collapse and sleep for a hundred years, rising she made her way towards the gathering of bushed she'd been sleeping in for the past two nights, she didn't feel safe in the forest, especially at night and had taken to sleeping in closed of areas.

She highly doubted anyone would be interested in her even if they did find her, she was pathetic to look at, there would be no gratification or glory in killing her in battle.

She pushed her small bag of supply's into the hole she'd previously carved out of the bush with one of the knives Manon had gifted her and crawled in after it.

It was cramped and hard but the small quarters helped fight against bite of the cold, she nestled down hugging herself tightly and closed her eyes.

 _Soon_ she thought _, soon I'll have a bed to sleep in, a fire to warm my bones, people to talk to._

 _Soon I'll be safe._

 _Soon I'll be home again._

 _Hands clawed at her throat. Black fire filled her veins, burning her from the inside out. She screamed. PLEASE. The air escaped her lungs and burned to ash._

 _PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Her uncle was there, he smiled as he stroked the monstrous creature beside him, he said "Sweet Elide" she looked at the creature, looked into its eyes and saw hell there. Saw herself burning. "I'd like you to meet my friend" his voice interrupted, his cool fingers tipped her chin back "I'd like to you to meet my friend" she didn't understand. Everything burned. Burned burned burned. Her breath was fire and her soul was embers. He laughed, gripped the chains around her arms. Smiled. "I'd like you to meet my friend. Death"_

Her dreams followed her out of sleep, her hear guttered in her chest and the cold wind burned where the tears had slipped down her cheeks, thunder roared in the distance great she thought, resting her hand against her still stuttering heart a _storm is coming._


End file.
